[p2p-research] One more link re: P2P economics ..

[Michel Bauwens]

thanks especially for the 3 last links,

I met some Pirate Bay/pyratbyran people last year (now 2 separate projects,
but not sure it was already the case then), and the last thing I would
assume is that they were making a lot of money ...

Is there anyone who has seen an extensive discussion of the financial side
of the project?

Michel

On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 at 12:04 PM, M. Fioretti
<marco.fioretti at eleutheros.it>wrote:

> Just a couple of quick notes, I'll answer to last message from David
> later this week as I must absolutely finish something else first.
>
> On Thu, Apr 23, 2009 10:18:03 AM +0700, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>
> > On the p2presearch list, I/we were recently challenged by Italian digital
> > rights activist Marco Fioretti, for our sympathy for the Pirate Bay.
>
> At least in the recent past, I **only** object to calling that P2P.
> Whether TPB and file sharing is right, wrong, good or bad, I'm trying
> to leave those questions aside right now, just to make the discussion
> simpler.
>
> > (at least from the viewpoint of the entertainment industry) would be that
> we
> > are seeing how a downloaded file does not necessarily replace a purchase,
> since
> > many consumers actually value the actual nature of the content
> differently. A
> > film can today exist as an online file of varying bit-rate and encoding
> > (technical quality)   instantly duplicable, for free; or as a full-price
> DVD
> > (with lots of extra material); as a TV broadcast either (seemingly) free
> or
> > pay-per-view; or, for that sake, as a slimmed down DVD version, handed
> out
> > (seemingly) for free with Sunday newspapers! File-sharing is here merely
> part
> > of a radical fragmentation of distribution vehicles, and   in parallel
> with
> > that   a radical fragmentation of value.  (One positive outcome of the
> > uncontrolled copying is thus that for every file copied, the artist s or
> > content producer s fifteen minutes of fame is momentarily extended and
> might
> > gain them in the long run. The sharing of the online file-sharers could
> here be
> > seen to actually contribute to the value of the content spread, although
> > perhaps more as an unintended by-effect than by deliberation. As with
> many
> > other contemporary areas of consumer-producer relations, this is in
> effect a
> > radical process of  outsourcing  labour to users. The end-users make part
> of
> > the effort of distribution, saving labour on the producer/distributor
> side, lo
> > wer ing prices, altering competition balances, etc. When file-sharers
> thus help
> > musicians be heard more easily, they effectively, however tacitly, act as
> PR
> > agents in some respects (and may get sued in the process, adding insult
> to
> > injury!). If we still are to persist with applying the con cept of aura
> to the
>
> > The founders of Pirate Bay are in my eyes the heroes of the new
> > world, putting a place a very efficient system of sharing, at great
> > personal risk, and with little personal gain.
>
> Define little. The last two statements below are to take with a big
> grain of salt, of course (**) (just like the ones from TPB founders
> that they aren't making any money, just paying expenses): but I
> wouldn't be surprised if their personal gain so far is quite more than
> you or I made last year. No problem with that, my only objection was
> the P2P definition.
>
> "Evidence in court showed they had set up a company in the British
> Virgin Islands, a well-known tax haven, to squirrel away the profits
> they made from advertising sales."
>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/you-wont-stop-us-vow-pirate-bay-owners-despite-jail-terms-1670410.html
>
> "Prosecutor Hakan Roswall.. added that the site could be making as
> much as $4 million annually off these ad revenues."
>
> http://www.betanews.com/article/Sweden-formally-charges-Pirate-Bay-owners/1201799919
>
> "Pirate Bay started with a free-spirited, Robin Hood ethos, liberating
> content from the shackles of capitalism for the benefit of the people,
> but it has become a capitalist enterprise it its own right, with
> advertising being handled by an agency in Tel Aviv and the money, €2
> million last year, flowing into a bank in the Cayman Islands."
> http://aaupblog.aaupnet.org/?cat=10
>
> Marco
>
> (**) and yes, the warning from the AAUP guy about malware is really
> ridiculous...
>
> --
> Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
> software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84
>
> _______________________________________________
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>



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